Whenever we create an animation, it’s always important to keep the target audience in mind throughout. This is especially true when the animation is for children and young people.

On this project, our brief from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England was to create a series of five explainer animations specifically for young people aged 12 and above who are suffering from long COVID.

Creating the animations

The five films were created to give advice tailored to young people and their parents on how to manage their symptoms as well as the mental and emotional effects of the illness. Throughout the process, from scripting to storyboarding and editing, we were lucky to have input from an amazing group of young people with lived experience, making sure that the final film accurately represented their experiences.

Including the target audience

Scripting & storyboarding

The young people were involved at all stages and influenced everything about the animations, including the language used in the script, the choice of colour palette, character designs, and many small details, such as the choice of foods shown. This was invaluable in making sure that the final animation would explain the topic in a clear and accessible way that they and their peers would relate to.

To facilitate this collaboration, we worked with the client, the young people and their families and schools to make sure that all meetings were at a time that suited them and were kept to a manageable length so as to not be too tiring.

Recording voiceovers

It made sense that animations aimed at young people should also be voiced by young people. With this in mind, we worked with pupils from Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol to record a series of voiceovers that gave the animations an added level of authenticity and diversity.

An empowering experience

We know that projects like this benefit greatly from having the direct input of young people, but it’s equally important to us that they also find the process to be an enjoyable one!

We know from the feedback we’ve had from young people and their teachers that having their voices heard and knowing they are making an impact is an empowering and uplifting experience. On this project, we even had one budding A-level artist involved who contributed drawings we were able to feature in the final animations themselves.

Watch the entire series:

Managing daily activities

Eating well

Sleeping well

Returning to education for pupils and students

Managing emotions and feelings